Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Its my Birthday on Saturday.....Happy Birthday to me.... come on sing along.

Anyway i have been going out alot to lakes taking pictures, i am no David Bailey but the camera i am using at the moment (Dont laugh) is a Finepix A202. Its only 2 megapixel and has 5 flash modes and i think 2 picture modes not sure.

Anyway its been a good little camera really when in the garden or house etc, but when i am going to the lake and i take pictures they come out very dark and gloomy, even though its not dark and gloomy outside. Trees in the background have no structure, they appear black etc. Even on the maximum quality setting. If things are close up its ok, up to 10-20 feet etc.

Now my Girlfriend said she would get me a camera for my Birthday which is why i need advice. I have no idea of what camera will be best for what i want to do so i will just explain what i want to do.

When i am outside, cloudy or not, i want to take a picture and be able to pick up the trees in the background as i see them with my eyes, even if they are 1/2 a mile away, i dont want to see just black shapes of trees etc.

Now she can only really afford £150 and she has to get it from a catalogue, she might go to £180 i dont know, lets just say top end is £180.

This is the catalogue she has to get it out of with the cameras on it, can anyone tell me which is the best camera for what i want to do?

http://www.grattan.co.uk/Web/main/pr...P%5FMasterItem

Also do these cameras come with memory sticks or do you have to buy them seperate?

The one she was looking at was DIGIMAX S700 Which seems really good but it only has 20mb Internal memory, which at max setting only takes 11 pictures. This finepix cam came with 16gb Memory stick.

Anyway any help is much appreciated as i know sod all about cameras.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Just a quick post from a photographer on another forum. Not quite 'outside' dark, but relevant I think.

Both the F30 and F31 come in under your budget. Sorry if they're not in that particular catalogue though.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I just brought one of these....well impressed

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...9-21/ref=nosim

Best buy on the Gadget show for a mid range camera

http://gadgetshow.five.tv/jsp/5gsmai...ital%20Cameras

Mike

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Paging Mr. Grif!!!!

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Does she have to buy it from Gratten ?
You can probably get a better camera for the price you will pay for one at this store.

Most cvamera's don't come with cards but will have built in memory to get you going. You can't expect to take many photos though and a memory card will be needed. Most cameras use SD cards whilst a select few use their own, eg. Sony memory stick.

I'd reccomend the Nikon's and Sony's that have some degree of manual settings but handy scene selections so you can quickly get the mode you need for the shot, eg. sunset, portrait, beach, etc.

The followiung sites have useful reviews:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

This is a decent review site, you can see some snap shots taken with the camera's for comparison.

EDIT: Bugger ! Halcyon has faster fingers than me. :D

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

The Samsung Digimax D103 has 10megapixels and is available from PC World at the online price of £119

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Happy birthday!

Sounds to me as if your camera is underexposing your outdoor shots. Are you using the landscape picture mode on the camera when taking these kind of shots?

You need a camera with a good range of optical zoom lengths. Ignore anything on the camera that says digital zoom, this is no use. Optical zoom is where the focal length on the physical lens is changed to meet your needs for that specific shot.

To shoot what the eye sees, you need a focal length of about 50mm, if you want to bring something nearer to you, you need more, if you want wide angle shots, you need less.

I won't complicate things by talking about digital focal length multipliers, but you will need a zoom lens of some description.

I'm not familiar with any of those compacts myself, as a general rule Fujis usually deliver pretty good results. The Nikon I have seen slated in a review.

Your best bet is to search for the cameras on that page...visit Tesco Extra, Jessops, pick them up, feel how they sit in your hand, ask questions about them etc. Also, a good review site is DPREVIEW, give it a Google!

By the looks of the listsings on that page, some do, some don't.

With the kind of resolutions some of the cameras on that page have (7.1mp was the highest I think) you're going to need a hell of a lot more than 20mb or 16mb. If they are true 7 megapixel cameras (some use a software resolution to upscale the image to that, which is not the same as a true 7.1mp image) then you're image file size will be in the region of 4mb per photo.

You should be looking at getting at least a 1gb card to store your images. A useful tip is to have several 1gb cards rather than one 4gb card, for the simple reason that if you lose the 4gb card or break it or it becomes corrupt, then you've still got three others with your photos on.

You can pick up a decent brand (Lexar or SanDisk) SD card, 1gb for about £10-15 these days. Avoid slower and no-name cards, as you're writing big files with each photo faster cards will do you favours.

So here's a checklist:

• More optical zoom = good.
• More megapixels = not necessarily good, but more will allow bigger prints
• SD cards are cheaper than xD cards, a bit. Do your research before you buy.
• Does camera come with rechargable batts and charger? Regular batts won't last 5 mins.
• How does camera feel to hold?
• What software does camera come with?

I'm sure there's a few other things to take into account, but that's a good starting place. If you need any more help, just shout.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Perhaps the money is better spent staying online :shrug:

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I got a fuji s5000 for sale could do ya a deal lol

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Firstly appolgies to Barewolf for a slight kidnapping of this thread but I'd rather not start a thread with pretty much the same topic so quickly.

I am also looking to get a digital camara. I don't want a top end model but I would rather spend a few hundred (maybe upto 500) on a decent camara that will last me for some time. I want it for holiday pics, family party type things (so some flash) and Live role play (where my target might be across the other side of a field or 1 meter in front of me) I would prefer something fairly chunky (i.e. with a thick grip on the right hand side at least) As I'll often have a laptop around, I can probably live without a massive amount of storage but decent battery life is a must.

any suggestions?

(BTW I'm not dead set on spending all the way upto the limit but its just to give you an idea - If someone can come back and say model X costing £150 will do everything you want then I'll be just as happy.)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

for 500 quid you can get a real good camera look at the canon eos series but ensure you get a lens deal also the nikons at that price would be a good deal. For a basic digi cam you only need to spend a max of 200 quid

what you get for 500 quid will be a slr camera meaning all your setting can be manual like aperture exposure focus etc and may well be a little complicated. Look for a named model with a good camera named lens and get something with image stabilizing. There are 100s of good models so I cant narrow it down but look for them specs in say canon fuji and nikon for example

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

At that price, you may as well go for a SLR such as the Canon EOS. The 350 is £390 at Amazon, the newer 400 is £500. We have the 350 and it's a great piece of kit.

Others might be able to suggest something cheaper though.

Edit: Wot Zingle said :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

This might be a silly question, but: How do I post a new article. I've spent the last 20 minutes searching for the 'Submit new post' and cannot find anything.
Gorge

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Whatever you decide to buy, get a good case for it and if the camera doesn't have it's own lens cover, a lens cove too.
For the money you spend on a camera, you don't want it damaged.

---------- Post added at 10:38 ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 ----------

The "New thread" button can be found at the top of each forum on the left.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Click 'cable forum' at the top left of the screen. Then select a suitable subforum. Scroll to the bottom, and click 'new thread'. HTH :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

articles iirc have to be selected so just create a normal thread and it will be picked up from there

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I'm still using a Canon EOS 300D and it takes great photos.
I've got the kit lens (18-55mm) and a telephoto lens (75-300mm).
My girlfriend uses it to take photos of us airsofting, so it should be fine for LRP.
Take a look at some of her work:
http://www.finmereairsoft.co.uk/modu...&orderby=dateD

She's by no means an expert at the camera's settings, so some of the photos may not be as perfect as they could be, but she does have a nack of taking some good ones.

Get yourself a subscription to Digital Photo magazine too, it's excellent for useful techniques to take photos, and touch ups in photoshop afterwards.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Another ( slightly less techno geek ) camera review site

http://www.cameras.co.uk/

Hows this one
good compromise, size.weight,price,zoom
caused quite a stir when it was available for £99 or so earlier in the year, not quite so cheap now @ £119

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

ive got the s5000 wicked camera

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

My thoughts exactly... I believe she still owes NTL £75, right?

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

aha but you can buy now pay later with the catalogue! although i wonder what the interest rates will be!!! lol :D

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Sorry, but I really don't get this :(

You say here that shes on a low income and is struggling to pay her bills, then when she offers to waste £150 (that could be better spent paying off some of her debt) on a camera for you you try talk her into paying £180.

Reads a bit selfish to me mate :(

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Stunning post and bang on. :tu:

You know whats coming next don't you.

Its virgins fault that they cannot afford the £200 version :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Anyone got any thought on the Fuli Finepix S5600, thinking getting one when I get paid, current camera is Finepix A205.

It's on sale in Tescos for £114 and at ASDA for £104, surely at those prices you can't go wrong.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I really don't think that you need to spend your budget on this...500 quid will buy you an entry level digital SLR camera, but from what you've said you really don't need one.

You should perhaps look at some of the 'bridge' cameras that offer almost DSLR qualities but in a smaller form. The Powershot range from Canon would be a good place to start, such as the G7 or S3, or one of the better end of the Fuji cameras. Plan to spend about £350-£400and you'll get a cracking bit of kit.

The DSLR route was my first thought too, but most people don't need interchangable lenses and the larger bodies of DSLRs and most compacts have half decent built-in processing that means you don't need to mess about in Photoshop afterwards for 'snaps' where most DSLRs need a little tweak on most photos.

I'm sure you spend money on things you can't afford either, and I think it's quite offensive to start personally attacking people for doing so, especially as it's a completely different post.

I think it would be more polite to keep your nose out of other people's financial business.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Thanx andygrif for that info. She got me that camera anyway, its got to be better than this one i have now which is all i really need, pitty i didnt have more time to go through it with her, she likes to drop things on me at the last minute, if she ever gets pregnant i probably wont know about it until she is in labour.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Dude I can believe that ;)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Stu & Bill C - Dont be an ****. This is from a catalogue and ive stated i am giving her £105 today anyway. I didnt ask her to get me this camera but she has and was going to even if i didnt know about it because i am always buying her things and its my birthday, she feels like she owes me something at least that i would enjoy, even though i would prefer to sell something to buy it myself. Grow up man. Your just picking an arguement with me and i dont like it, if you have something to say then say it but expect a prompt slapped **** reply coz u know sod all of what you think your both talking about.

---------- Post added at 18:05 ---------- Previous post was at 18:04 ----------

LOL. Yeah well you know what women are like zing, were always the last to know anything.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

The S5700 is new out, I'm sorely tempted as QVC are doing it today as a TSV with payments over two months. It's over twice the pixels and three times the zoom of my current Capilo RR30.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

as ive said ive been using the s5000 for a couple fo years now and its a wicked camera so the updated models I would imagine are also wicked lol

s5600 115 quid s 5700 149 quid 2 megapixels difference and thats it mines only 3.1 but by the looks of it not a lots changed except ccd resolution

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Good point. Although, unless you have a steady hand or some sort of surface or tripod to put the camera on, getting closer is better if possible.
Good point, and one camera manufacturers tend to ignore. We have an old Powershot G3 that, while only 4MP, produces far better pictures than some of the cheaper 7 MP cameras I have seen, purely because it has better optics. Although it isn't a patch on the EOS 300Ds we also have at work.
Good point.
Does camera come with rechargable batts and charger? Regular batts won't last 5 mins.
[/quote]
Alkaline batteries actually last quite a while (admittedly, not as long as a rechargable), but they also have the advantage that if they die, you can usually just pop into a store and buy more.
Another good point. We have one of the first generation powershots at work (2 megapixel and nearly ten years old). It's a wierd looking (and actually extremely ugly) camera, but is extremely easy to hold steady while taking shots (really needs two hands though).

I personally find a lot of the smaller cameras a little difficult to hold comfortably.
Another good point. Although XP can directly import images from most cameras, and most of them now support some sort of picture transfer over USB standard (such as PictBridge) so you can use software such as Picasa to import, manage, edit and print your photos.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

The Powershot range is excellent.


Canon make great cameras.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

That, they do.

The IXUS is quite good as well. Not as easy to hold as the Powershot though.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I bought one. :D QVC sold over 3000 of them in 24 hours.


DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I got an IXUS 900 to replace my fuji 201 just before christmas and the ixus is just fantastic. Its a small fit in your shirt pocket camera that just takes fantastic pics. It is pricey tho it does have a hughe screen on the back, 10mp sensor and 3x optical zoom (could do with abit more but the mp more than make up for it).

What makes this camera is its DIGIC III processing which they've lifted straight from the current generation of EOS cameras its a very clever automatic system which can control everything for you if you want it (i have taken excellent pics in a dark nightclub with the normal flashing lights before, after i'd had a few drinks :-)) to but you can still burry yourself in the menus fiddling for hours!

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I've been looking at the fuji finepix range and it's either going to be an S5600 or an S6500 I think i'll pass on the S5700, it's missing RAW mode and also a few other things the 5600 does have.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Unless you are a pro, or like to spend lots of time fiddling about in Photoshop I think RAW isn't a necessity. My friend has just bought the Nikon D80, it saves both RAW and JPG copies of each image. The RAW image is 8Mb, the JPG 3Mb, I honestly can't see a great deal of difference between them. The majority of the images I take are printed as is, I rarely feel the need to manipulate the image in any way, maybe a bit of cropping now and again if I didn't get it right in the camera.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Whilst RAW is a nice thing to have if you're planning on doing a lot of post processing, it's something that most people simply wouldn't use. Files are huge, take a lot of time to process on the computer and in most cases don't produce shots that are any better than JPEGs stored with a large fine setting.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I've still got an old Powershot A70. No good for big prints, as it's only 3MP, but still great for "normal" size prints.


Ally has an IXUS 800 IS - very nice little camera.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I love my A80. Takes a stunning photo!. :D

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Barewolf

Try the library or cheapo bookstore on photography.

These books can give valuable tips & advise on taking pictures.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Well Louise gave me the camera last night and ive only had chance to play with it today. Its really nice. Good zoom for what i want. 5x Digital. Not alot but makes a big difference to my old one.

Ive set the quality to medium and its set on 5 megapixel. Can only take 15 pics with the cams memory with that, 20mb. Got a 2gb SD Card coming tomorrow so should be ok lol.

My problem is even at those settings the pics on the PC come out at 1.7mb Each mostly. Thats pretty big for a Jpeg, my old ones were 600kb ish. Is this just sods law if i choose hi pixels?

All camera settings are on auto at the moment, Whitebalance is on auto, Flash, ISO? That goes up to 1000 but i dont know if i manually select it or not, manuals a bit confusing as to what these things do rather it tells you how to alter it if needed.

Ive taken one on this new camera of my cake Louise made for me, i really cant eat it so i keep taking pics of it instead. trouble is that its not really sharp. It has a little hand that comes up when you take a picture to tell you if the camera is shaking. No i normally have a steady hand being an artist so the camera wasnt shaking, its very hard to get rid of this icon on the LCD display when trying to take a picture. Perhaps its coz i used zoom maybe?

When i can compress the images i will upload them so you can see, but there way too big at the moment. :rolleyes:

Not sure, still learning. Any tips would be gratefull.

About the large files. i dont know what to do to compress them and if i will loose quality, is it easier to just lower the megapixel? or compress them afterwards on pc? Which is worse for the quality of pic?

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

The size of the file depends on what level of compression the built in processor uses for the JPEGs. Not all cameras are the same.

Your ISO level is the sensitivity of the ccd to the amount of light available in the shot. The higher the ISO level, the less light you need, but bear in mind that it dramatically reduces the quality of the image due to noise and the ccd will over-pickup to compensate for lack of light. ISO levels are used in conjunction with the Aperture setting, which controls the diameter of the diaphragm when open. This also affects the Depth of Field and exposure length (shutter speed). When using a camera on manual settings, these 3 all affect each other. If you just want to point and click, use auto.

The hand symbol does not always mean the camera IS shaking, it's more a warning that camera shake will affect the result. You can reduce the blur by using flash. Most cameras have auto flash levelling these days, which cancels out any 'burning' (bright white areas) on the main subject (depending on your metering mode - the bit that evaluates the light levels within the image).

So, a breakdown;

ISO = sensitivity of the sensor to the light available in the frame. The lower, the better the image with look, but you need to be aware of the exposure level.

Aperture = diameter of the opening which the light travels through to reach the sensor. This determines Depth of Field. the lower the Aperture level, the bigger the hole, the more the background will be blurred in comparison to the main subject.

Shutter speed = how long the blades open for exposing the sensor to the light.

Please note that with compact cameras, although these options may exist, they are really only pseudo settings. Compact cameras merely use software to simulate these effects as all that happens when you press the button is that the sensor is turned on for a period of time determined by the shutter speed setting. In SLR / DSLR cameras, the settings affect physical parameters.

If you need any more help or explanations, please let me know. I'm quite into photography!

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

For quality purposes you'd be better setting the quality to high and if possible reduce the number of MP's.

The more pixels you have, the larger the file sizes will be. This isn't a big issue when you get your 2gb card of course.

ISO is the same as old film cameras, when you used ISO200 for outdoor and ISO (or ASA if you're really old!) 400 for inoor. As with film, the sensor on the camera is more sensitive to ligght, so will offer faster shutter speeds in lower light than using a lower ISO number. However the flip side of faster ISOs is grain or noise on the shot. The higher the ISO, the more noise on the shot there is, but the faster the shutter speed will be.

Your camera, as it is set to auto, will try to guess what the optimum settings are for that shot. What it's done is to look at the ambient light in the room, open the aperture as much as possible and drop the shutter speed down to expose the shot correctly.

However, the shutter speed is too slow, so the little hand is coming up to warn of possible camera shake. It doesn't matter how steady your hand is, you are unlikely to avoid camera shake if the shutter speed drops below 1/60th of second without some sort of stability aide, such as a tripod or something to rest on. Also, the more you zoom, the more prone to shake a photo becomes, so that 1/60th sec will increase to anything up to 1/200th second. A rule of thumb of SLR cameras is you never drop your shutter speed below what your focal length on your lens is, eg 200mm lens needs a shutter speed faster than 1/200th second, but obviously on compacts this is difficult to guage sometimes.

You should keep copies of photos you want to process. Take them off the camera, copy them to a CD/DVD and then work on local copies of the shots. That way you can resize, process, alter, etc to your heart's content without destorying the original (the negative if you like).

To start emailing things, pick a reasonable image size like 600pixels by 400 pixels and a resolution of 72dpi (as computer screens don't display more than 72dpi unless you've got a Mac, in which case it's 96dpi).

When printing, you should crop to the print size you want to make, eg 6x4" and a resolution of 300dpi (which is the standard for printing and the same resolution as our eyes see).

This is correct, but another major factor on file size is the subect of the photo; if you're shooting something on a plain white background and there is only a small area of the actual subject in the frame, the file size is far far smaller than if you'd filled the frame with the subject. This is the nature of JPEG compression, which looks at pixels next door when discarding info.

Sorry to be pedantic but ISO can be relative to aperture, but doesn't work in conjuntion with it and it doesn't change shutter speed. I know what you're saying, which is broadly corrrect, but it could be a bit misleading that way.

I could go into a couple of pages as to how the relationship works, but I'd be asleep by the time I'd finsihed writing it. Save to say that keeping the ISO on 100 is good if you want grain free images. Adjusting the aperture will change the look of the image, as you say depth of field (which is also affected by zoom length) the lower the number, the more light going through the lens and shallower the depth of field (i.e foreground and background more likely to be blurred). And if you've not got enough light with the previous two settings then you need a longer exposure which is when you start getting camera shake!

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Thanks andy and bender, you both seem to know your stuff on cameras. I am still reading through the manual and have taken a shot of my Birthday cake. I will add 2 pics, you can see they are not too good, i did have zoom on it, its not as crisp as i would like.

I took it on 5 megapixel on medium quality set to landscape mode. probably did everything wrong for that shot didnt i?
All the cameras settings were on auto as well, ISO etc etc.

I have used infraview to shrink my pictures file size with no loss of quality. I set some pics to 1500x1500 dpi. thats still to high then? would 300x300Dpi be enough? for keeping them for e mails and forums etc?

The SD card came this morning and i had camera set to 5mp medium quality and it said i had 1500 shots left lol. I was like OMG!!!! I usually only take a maximum of 50 when i am out. Anyway i changed it to 7.1mp and super fine and i still have 600 to take with that so i am all set now for travels.

My problem is batteries. My god how fast do they burn up? I used up 2 Duracel yesterday and managed about 20 Pics before it had gone, mind you i dont think they were brand new. I have 2 Duracel Ultra in at the moment, brand new, wonder how many i can get out of that, hmm.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Hi-capacity rechargables is the only way to go with digital cameras.

The fact that it may use normal batteries is only really useful in emergency (is there such a thing oi photo terms) and don't have time for a recharge - so just have 2 sets

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Recharageables are the way to go. Normal batteries just get used up really quickly in camera's.

As for the zoom quality. Sometimes forget the zoom altogether and get closer and use the macro feature. Yo'ul get a lot more detail, and crisper photo when taking close objects.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I actually read something like that in a Canon camera manual. They said that for most purposes , you will see little or no difference between RAW mode and a JPEG mode on the highest quality setting. Apart from the fact the file will be considerably larger than the JPEG.

It's different if you are planning to print the picture on a large-format printer (A3, A2, A1 or larger), or are planning to work on it within photoshop or a similar image editing application.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Can anyone reccomend any high capacity rechargable batteries? good ones?

How long will they last on average? Like 50 shots with flash or something?

I normally take my picture and turn the cam off to save battery life.

Also do you have any links to these batteries that will accept paypal?

Sorry i am totally new to this, never used rechargable batteries before so no idea what to look for or what is the best options.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

You're welcome! I'm a photographer, so many things on this subject I can help with, but I don't personally use a digital compact anymore, I use a camera phone for snaps and one of my three DSLRs for 'proper' shots!

OK, on the two shots you posted I can see from the EXIF data that the first one you used a shutter speed of 1/30th sec and the second one a shutter speed of 1/15th (half as fast again). Realistically you shouldn't have a shutter speed under 1/60th as rule of thumb.

Now, going back to what Bender and I were on about... here's lesson two!

Exposure is measured in stops. f/2.8 is ONE LESS than f1.4 but ONE MORE than f/4. Your first shot was as f/2.8 which is a wide aperture. Your second shot was at f/4.2 (which isn't really an f/ stop, as one less than 4.2 is f/5.6!!!) Confused? It took me a while to grasp this one when I was learning it too.

So, the relationship between aperture and shutter speed is as follows: If you have an aperture of f/4 and shutter speed of 1/30th sec, by increasing the aperture by one stop to f/2.8 (widening the aperture) you also increase the shutter speed by one stop, from 1/30th sec to 1/60th sec.

ISO comes into this to as Bender said...in your first example your camera selected an ISO of 191 (which again is not a true ISO, so lets say it's 200). By increasing the ISO to 400 you are gaining another stop. So if we use the same exmaple of your f/4 aperture increase it again to f/2.8 and now we increase your 200ISO to 400, the shutter speed goes from 1/30th sec, through 1/60th (as increasing aperture got us this) and up to 1/125th sec shutter speed, which is a nice all round speed with no fear of camera shake at most focal lengths on your camera.

Does that make any sense? (Don't worry if it doesn't, it didn't to me for a long time too). If I remember, I will try and fish out my study in first year photography that I (eventually) grasped this relationship.

If your camera has one, try setting it to shutter priority mode and manually set a shutter speed of at least 1/60th, preferably 1/125th sec and let camera sort out ISOs and apertures...see the difference it makes!

Enjoy playing!


Not really, RAW doesn't add anything extra into an image (aside from potential dynamic range for certain shooting complex shooting conditions). As printing at larger sizes such as A2 upwards would require interpolation, you again would see little if any difference between a RAW shot and a large fine JPEG on a good camera.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

---------- Post added at 10:53 ---------- Previous post was at 10:36 ----------

Hi Andy

So what youre saying is manually change ISO to 400 - 800? For shots? This will reduce camera shake and blurry images?

Sorry i know noting about apperture and focal lengths. Theres nothing on my camera about these settings, the only settings it allows me to change are...

ISO - Auto,80,100,200,400,800,1000
White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Flourecent, Tungstun, Custom
Exposure Compensation - -2.0 ~ 0.0 ~ +2.0 ~ (0.5EV Steps)

Also with reading the manual i discovered the camera has an option of Continuous shot which can take Continuous shots until the shutter button is released, or AEB which is 3 pictures at different expsures. Under, normal, and over.

Manually the apparture is F2.8 + 7.1 Switchable When I zoom in it changes values also switchable. The shutter speed I can also change 1/15,1/30,1/45 Etc etc

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

The darker the area the more you want to increase the ISO. Higher ISO, means more sensitivity to light.
You will get images with to some extent less blur but the higher the ISO, the more noise that will appear in the image.
By noise, I mean spots and graininess.

See here for more info and examples:

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glos...itivity_01.htm

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glos...xposure_01.htm

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

No idea if they take paypal but just for reference

Link
Look for the more mAh - bigger the number , generally lasts longer

Then you need a charger
Link
Most tend to be mains ones, but there are some in-car ones too
some come with batts too, again look for a big mAh number

Not a bad option here link main s + 12v car charging + 2700 bats x 4

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I know, the 3MP camera on my SEK800i is fantastic. Even has a pretty good flash, though you need to then do red eye reduction on people (flash to close to lens).

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Actually, I based that statement on a Canon EOS D350. We have a Hewlett Packard A1 inkjet at work, and when testing it, we went out and took pictures in various modes. Two (both of a statue on some grass) were taken at the highest res for the camera. One as a RAW image, and one with JPEG compression. When printed out (at A2 size), there were noticable artifacts on the grass with JPEG compression.

Having said that, I didn't take the photo, so only have the other technician's word that he was using a high quality JPEG setting. Sadly, he kept the file as well.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

RAW is the data that the senson recieves, unmodified, so no whitebalance affected, no compression etc.
Great if you want to touch up the photo afterwards in photoshop, but as has been said, for most snappers jpg is good enough.
I love using RAW, but most of my shots need to be up on the web within a few hours of getting home, so I generally use jpeg, but if I'm taking any arty photos I'll use RAW just because then I've got the greatest number of options open to me.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Hi Guys.

Ok Today I have been out with my Samsung S700. I took on board what people have been saying and I am still learning, however if it hadnt have been for andy pointing out apperture, focal length, ISO etc then I would have had it set on Auto all the time which would have been useless today.

Today was sunny, not the brightest day weve had but it was bright outside.

I took some pictures WITH and WITHOUT auto function. I was suprised at the difference it made.

I set the Manual mode to 1/60th Shutter Speed. Most were taken 1/90th Though. The decent one below is 1/90th. The gloomy dark one is AUTO. And the 3rd one Is one i took which is how i want it all the time really, if possible to make it better then wicked. This was Manual 1/90th.

The Focus was 7.1 But i did zoom in and out on some pictures and the Focus changed obviously. I dont understand what reducing the focus does, it allows me to change between two. If i am not zoomed in and its set Focus 7.1 and Shutter Speed is 1/90th I can change the Focus to 2.1 or back to 7.1. When I zoom this changes different values.

I have options to change from AWB / Sunny / Cloudy. Theres other modes but they are for indoors. When I choose cloudy i get more vivid colour, Sunny makes it darker. And most inc the ones i added were done using AWB. No idea what that means lol.

ISO Was set to Auto as well on the pictures even though it was in Manual mode for some shots, I dont know if that is a wise idea or not?

As you can see in picture one. Its like what i started with my old camera. The background is dark, no detail in the trees, gloomy looking. This is why i got the Samsung Camera. Using Manual the Second picture is far better, no detail in the sky though like picture one but you can pick the detail up better, looks like a decent pic to me, Novice with no idea what he is doing lol.

So definately helps knowing about these focal lengths and Shutter speeds. Focal length still confusing me :monkey:

The third picture seemed to come out great, cant remember if i used Macro mode in Manual for this shot or not. Or if i should have done that.

I found though even in Manual mode "Some" pictures came out a little dark while others were nice and bright. Does this have something to do with where the sun is shining? Ie if its behind me do i use more shutter speed?, If its in front of me I use less? Or is that all wrong lol. Sorry if it is.

Anyway heres the pics. Any advice would be helpfull. I didnt mess with the apparture with these pics or the ISO. Only the Shutter speed and AWB for manual mode and gloomy pic is Auto mode.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

AWB = Auto white balance. Light has different temperatures / colour spectrums, by telling the camera the temp of the light you are photographing in the sensor can better expose and get the colours right in the image.

Think about how yellow normal street lights are, compare to the brighter, but still yellow lights on big junctions, another place this can be seen visibly is on car headlights, the original incandesant bulb vs Xenon arc lights.
A camera is trying to be an eye, so think about these things as the functions of an eye.
The CCD / image sensor / number of megapixels is the retina.
Focus, well focus, the eye does this by stretching and relaxing the muscles on the lens, the camera by changing the relationship of the lens to the sensor.
zoom, well the eye cannot do this, it is done by changing the relationship of multiple lenses to oneanother.
This leaves aperture / f numbers. This is the job of the iris, the iris opens in low light and contracts in bright light to manage the amount of light reaching the retina / sensor. This is what the aperture / f number does. The lower the f stop, the more light can get through.

The side effect of this in photography is that as you widen the aperture you change the depth of field, which is the amount of the image that is in focus. This is less of a problem in longer focus images, but as you get into close up images you will see the difference.

The rest has been explained well, but often with digital it pays to think back to film photography.

Film photography is basically a chemical reaction to light on the film. What you want to do is get the right amount of light onto the film. You start by knowing the light sensitivity of the film, the ISO, you also know what type of media it is designed to photograph (usually daylight), this is the equivilant of the white balance setting in the digital world.

You then can vary the size of the iris (aperture / f) and the length of time the film is exposed to the light to get the right amount of time. Same basically applies to a CCD in a digital camera.

So Film based adjustments
ISO / White Balance / Colour or B&W
http://kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.j...q-locale=en_US
http://www.kodak.com/global/plugins/...7022/E7022.pdf
Individual Photo based adjustments
Shutter Speed / Aperture (f) / Focus

With regard to light source, if you are outside, mid morning and afternoon are best overall as you get strong light, but it is not direct / overhead and creating the strongest shadows. It is a more even light.
Starting advice is you shoot away fromt the sun, but if you are shooting toward it you need to compensate for the fact that the light sensor is getting more light reading than most of the subject, the subject (even if it is an outdoor scene) is effectivly backlit.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Almost, yes! Increasing the ISO from 400 to 800 will mean that the sensor requires one less stop of light to produce a correctly exposed frame. So if you had a shutter speed of 1/30th second at ISO400 then you would use 1/60th sec at ISO800 to get the same overall exposure. However, the down side of increasing the ISO, as previously mentioned, is that the grain on the photo is greatly increased at higher ISO numbers. But it's better to have grain than camera shake in most cases!

Interesting eh? Before long you'll be shooting in manual mode all the time becuase you'll know the results you'll get will be better once you've mastered it!!

Out of the three I prefer the first one, which was on auto I presume, as the shutter speed is 1/350th sec and it gives the best overal exposure of what is a slightly complex variety of requirements for a camera...by that I mean that you have a blue sky that needs to come out, the dark green trees and the bright yellow foreground. So the camera has done a good job at second guessing what exposure settings to use in this case.

In your second shot, I'd say that was overexposed by a couple of stops by looking at it. When I'm looking at the EXIF data I can see that your ISO is set to about the same as the auto shot, so is the aperture (f/ stop) but the camera originally thought you needed a shutter speed of 1/350th and on the second shot you've manually selected 1/90th second. So you can start to see what's happening right? 1/350th second is a much shorter exposure than 1/90th second, so in your manual setting you're allowing more light into the camera (becuase the shutter is open for 1/260th second longer) which is why the overall look is much lighter. For a perfect shot I'd hit somewhere between the two values for a lighter, but better exposed shot...somewhere more like 1/250th perhaps.

Same goes for the third shot, which had the same ISO and aperture and the shutter speed again was 1/90th. A little overexposed...but all good learning material!

Focal length is just the zoom. If your camera has optical zoom, then it is a proper zoom lens. Any figures for digital zoom should be forgotten, and you should ideally not use digital zoom, as this is just zooming into the shot using software, which cuases bad pixellation and can be done on your computer (better) if you insist on it anyway.

No. Macro is just another word for close-up photography. What you were doing was landscape photography, where you want a good depth of field (that's for lesson two!) so you need a smaller aperture (bigger f/ number) to make sure everything in the shot is in focus. Using a wide aperture (small f/ number) will mean that the one thing you focus on will be in focus and most other stuff will be blurred. Sometimes you want this, for example to draw attention to the thing you're focussed on, and sometimes you want everything in focus, such as landscapes.

You're on the right train of thought. Every shot is going to have different values needed. Some cameras will tell you, when in manual mode, when you've got the combination of settings that it thinks will produce a good exposure. So if your shot looks too bright, it's overexposed. Reduce the speed of the shutter or decrease the size of aperture (use a larger numbered f/ stop) to reduce the amount of light.

Hope this helps :)

As mentioned, when you're printing images that are larger than the native output of the camera then it's good practice to use a decent interpolation algorhythm. A little secret trick in Photoshop is to only ever resmaple by 10% each time, never just resample to the size you want to print. I've blown A2 sized prints from a 10D (which was a long time before the 350d) using this method with no real artifacts to worry about.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Looking at your 3 sample pics #1 is actually the most workable because there's detail there that's lost in the second and third because they are over-exposed, washed and look like they've been killed with camera shake (were you shooting handheld or with a tripod)?. This is undoubtedly because you have used a pretty long exposure time in bright conditions - as a very simple rule of thumb try using a higher shutter speed for a sharper image. I tend to stay above 1/250th for outdoor shooting.

If you over-expose your digital shots a-la 2 and 3 then you will start losing detail as jpg compression will strip large areas of white pixels. A slightly under exposed image will always be of more use than an over exposed one (you can photoshop it later) but it is of course best practice to achieve the correct exposure

It can be challenging to achieve the correct exposure settings when you have contrasting light sources in the shot - in the context of your sample pictures: a bright sky and darker surface features. In these conditions your camera's light metering can actually mislead you depending on how the metering mode is configured and what you actually point the camera at. It also doesn't help that many internal light meters are easy to fool (even using evaluative metering) and don't always provide an accurate reading at the best of times. An decent quality external light meter is a good investment.

Photoshop can be extremely useful (if you have it) and there are many ways in which you can further enhance your images or even transform a marginally acceptable image into an acceptable one. The link below is an excellent resource:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...hotoshop.shtml

Anyway stick at it and enjoy learning photography, it's a fantastically rewarding hobby, hell it's kept me occupied for the past 25 years and I get bored very easily! :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Thanks andy and peter,

The only thing i dont like is the dark background, you both say the 1st pic is better but it makes it look gloomy. In my pics i want things in the background to be visable with detail. Most of the beauty of the lake and where i plan to visit will be in the background (Distance).

On a bright sunny day i want to be able to capture that. When majority of people look at my pictures (Who are not experts) they think the 2nd and 3rd pics are better as you can see whats going on.

I will try with different Shutter speeds see if that helps. Andy its interesting how you know what settings i used from just a picture, how do you do this? This might come in handy for me after i have took the pictures using different settings as there is so many, its hard to know what i was doing at the time.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Does the camera have a bracketing setting?, this will take a number of images (normally three or five) at the camera's suggested best setting, one (or two) stops below and the same above. This will allow you to choose the best one.

The best thing about digital cameras is NO FILM. Shoot dozens of images of the the same scene with different setting to get a feel of the camera's abilities.

The camera saves its settings as part of the jpg (EXIF), most photo programs can display that information (see pic). This is very useful when you're comparing shots, you can see which settings are giving you the images you want.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

No it does have a continuous shot feature at different appertures i THINK.

I have just been downstairs and i was messing with the settings, including ISO and Focal length, shutter speed etc. Most of the pics i take are pretty much the same, no real difference even when i switch between settings.

What i did find is that if I goto Program the pictures have more colour, also on the Modes section if i select "Measure Shutter" Instead of "Cloudy" or "Sunlight" then the picture stays bright and lots of colour appears, like greens.

I will upload my images to Photobucket and post my test shots, Would you be so kind as to look at them and tell me which shots you think are the best ones? That way I can get to put into practice my snapping outdoors more effectively.

:)

Thanks with your patience with me guys i must be doing your heads in lol.

I like that orange foto, amazing what you can take pics of when you think about it, something so simple like that. Will have to try and do that on mine when i suss out what i am doing hehehe.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Which camera did you get in the end, I'm so brain dead this morning I can't see any reference to it. You shouldn't need to change the ISO setting from 100 under normal use, the faster you have it set the more digital noise you will get in the image. Is it an optical zoom or a digital zoom?, don't use digital zoom, all you are doing is cropping the image in camera, you'll do that far better in a photo program. Do upload your images, the guys here will give helpful advice.

The orange photo was a test shot of the camera's macro ability, I was looking for something I could get really close to, if I remember correctly, the camera was about 2cm from the orange.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Notice the wide aperture setting of f5.6?
That gives a very narrow focus range, which you can see in the photo where the orange closest to us is out of focus, and the orange furthest away from us is out of focus, but a narrow section in the middle is in perfect forcus.

A narrow aperture setting will give a deeper focal length, wiki has an article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture with some examples such as this:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2007/04/11.jpg

Taken with a narrow aperture of f32, you can see the background clearly.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2007/04/12.jpg

Taken with a wide aperture of f5, now the background is blurry and looks great.

Also, with a narrow aperture (high f number) less light gets into the camera so the shutter has to be open longer (unless you crank up the ISO to compensate) meaning you can make waterfalls look groovy:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2007/04/13.jpg

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

The camera is a Samsung S700 Digimax. Its 3x Zoom goes up to 5x Digital Zoom in total. Im not sure how this works exactly. Not sure if its all Digital zoom or not, after i pass the 3x zoom it really zooms in and its impossible to take a decent picture.

The lens is SHD (Zoom 5.8 - 144mm)

Heres the pictures i did and uploaded...Hopefully you can see the settings i used? If not tell me which look the best and i will shrink them and upload them here.

19 In total. Some are duplicates *Sigh*

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-019.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-018.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-017.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-016.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-015.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-014.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-013.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-012.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-011.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-010.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-009.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-008.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-007.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-006.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-005.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-004.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-003.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-002.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...th2007-001.jpg

There we go. Best one I think is 17. Have no idea what i did there though, I think it was set on program mode.

---------- Post added at 12:12 ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 ----------

Xaccers im going to go try that apperture in the garden see if i can get something to post. I understand now i think.

---------- Post added at 12:19 ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 ----------

Nope i set my camera in Manual mode and set the F 2.8. It will only let me change this upwards to 7.2. The higher i set it the darker the image. I cant seem to get to 5.6.

Nothing in the background seems to blurr no matter what i do.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

With creative compacts it can be difficult to get a sufficiently blurred background, so either move your subject (the thing you're taking a photo of) further away from the background, or blur the background later in something like photoshop

The smaller the number, the larger the aperture (yes, I know it doesn't make sense that small number = large aperture, but it's down to a formula) so the more blurred the background will be.
With the short lenses of a compact like yours though it is hard to do.
There may be a macro setting which would help.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Will the blur appear on the LCD? Before i take the shot? or is it just trial and error based on the formula?

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Not likely to be visible on a relatively small lcd screen.
If you can zoom into the picture you've taken, you may notice it.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I prefer shots 001 & 006, good colour and saturation, lots of detail, highlights and lowlights are good. 017 is overexposed, you've lost the sky and everything else is bleached out. Compare the yellow table cloth in 006 & 017, there is detail in 006 which is gone in 017.

BTW, were you inside shooting out through a window?

Here is the EXIF for those three:

001

Exposure Time: 1/1000
F Number: 2.80
Exposure Program: manual control
Bias: 0/10
Metering Mode: multi-segment
Light Source: 16
Flash:
Focal Length: 5.80
Shutter Speed: 1/1000.00
Orientation: upper left
Aperture: 2.97

006

Exposure Time: 1/1500
F Number: 2.80
Exposure Program: manual control
Bias: 0/10
Metering Mode: multi-segment
Light Source: 16
Flash:
Focal Length: 5.80
Shutter Speed: 1/1000.00
Orientation: upper left
Aperture: 2.97

017
Exposure Time: 1/180
F Number: 2.80
Exposure Program: program normal
Bias: 10/10
Metering Mode: multi-segment
Light Source: 16
Flash:
Focal Length: 5.80
Shutter Speed: 1/125.00
Orientation: upper left
Aperture: 2.97


DW

---------- Post added at 12:57 ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 ----------

It can be quite subtle, I don't think you are going to see it on a LCD.

There is a relationship between speed and f-stop:

1/1000 at f2 = 1/500 at f4 = 1/250 at f8

Under normal circumstances you'll go for the highest f-stop number for best depth of field, but if you're photographing moving cars for instance you'll want the fastest speed to stop the motion.

It's all about compromises, therein lie the joys of photography. :)


DW

---------- Post added at 13:08 ---------- Previous post was at 12:57 ----------

The 3x optical zoom is fine, it's a real glass lens magnifying the image with no loss of quality. Once you reach the end of the 3x zoom the digital zoom takes over. The 5x digital zoom throws away detail and making what's left bigger to fit the screen, nasty.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Some cameras have a depth of field preview function - you're more likely to find this on a digital SLR though.

If you use a low f stop number as recommended above and an equivalent focal length of about 100mm or so while backing a suitable distance away from the subject you should achieve some nice portrait effects with blurry backgrounds.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I see. I will try the blurry up close shots and see if i can do anything decent.

Ive been down the carrs near where i live, rivers, trees, banks, and grassy areas. Was sunny today and i mostly used "Program" mode which set the F itself mostly, all i did was alter the exposure compensation for lighter or darker settings.

I shall upload some and post them, you might still think they are over exposed though, its just so scary taking a picture using the LCD screen when it looks dark. If you know what i mean.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

If I'm not taking action shots, and especially in the weather we're having at the moment, I keep the ISO at 100.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Don't confuse what you see on the LCD with the image you are taking, think of it like the viewfinder on a point and shoot film camera. It's just a way of aiming at the subject.

The various scene options (Portrait, Sports, Landscape etc) are very good these days, I tend to use them 95% of the time. It's only when I'm shooting against the light or macro close up that I use manual settings.

It's good to experiment with the manual options and get a good understanding of your camera, but for day to day photography or to grab that quick shot automatic is fine.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Well i uploaded my latest shots to flickr.

I am very pleased with the results, i dont think i overexposed many of them to be honest.

If you goto my flickr page and look at the set called "The Carr's" you will see what i have done today.

Although on my PC they are in reverse order for some reason grrr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barewolf/

Comments be nice, i think these are the best i have done so far ever.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Some good looking shots there, one or two a bit overexposed but that's being picky. A couple of general points on composition, the rule of thirds is a good way of framing a shot (http://www.aea1.k12.ia.us/lois/ruleofthirds.html), don't be a slave to it but it does work.
You're also making the standard error of shooting everything from your standing eye level, get down on your knees, crouch or even lie flat for different perspectives. Looking at the images of Sasha, get down to the dogs eye level and see how much better the images can be.

DW (sorry for the rubbish quality, high ISO)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Ahh cool. So at last some good shots. Woooo. Im sure you agree they are better than any i have done so far and i am still learning, not bad since i only started with this cam on Sunday and have no idea about photography :O)

I did think about getting down but i felt silly lol. Will do though. Going somewhere nice tomorrow with a mate, no idea where yet but hoping to get alot of shots like today.

Will be searching the net for places to head to tomorrow :O)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Tegg's nose is a decent spot if the weather's good, and not a million miles from you by the looks of it. Weather forecast is decent for tomorrow.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Get in the habit of carrying the camera with you at all times, it's small enough not to get in the way. Mine is in my backpack ready for whatever I find of interest, that's where the automatic functions come into their own, no need to worry about the mechanics of photography just concentrate on getting the image. Just take lots of photo's wherever you go tomorrow. :)

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Yeah theres some nice places, siddington is nice. Few lakes round there.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Some really good shots there :)
I've tweaked a few to show you what can be done very easily in photoshop

http://www.finmereairsoft.co.uk/modu...1510639a_o.jpg

http://www.finmereairsoft.co.uk/modu...069cd621_o.jpg

http://www.finmereairsoft.co.uk/modu...48ec0403_o.jpg

And a few of my own:

http://www.finmereairsoft.co.uk/modu.../CRW_4248a.jpg

Very pleased with this one, the tip of the barrel originally was behind the thin branch:

http://www.finmereairsoft.co.uk/modu...2/pinhead1.jpg

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Cool. Cheers Xaccers. Will have a play round with some myself see if i can come up with anything :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

It is not likely as the camera needs depth of field preview. This will close down the iris to capture and process the image as a preview. Something a non SLR type camera will not do. It keeps the iris open to keep the image on the screen as good as it can.

---------- Post added at 00:31 ---------- Previous post was at 00:29 ----------

Normally there is an option in the menus to turn off the digital zoom. Best to do so if you can.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

A nice little freeware EXIF viewer.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multime...f-Reader.shtml

How are you getting on with the new camera Barewolf?

My new camera has arrived, a Fuji S5700. :D

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

The simplest one is built into Windows. Right click on the image file, select properties, summary, advanced and most of wat you'll need will be there.

Also, IrfanView is a great quick freeware viewer and they have a decent EXIF, JPEG Comment and IPTC reader available via free plugin.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Well blow me down!, I didn't know about that in Windows. Thanks.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Where was it from and at what price?(if that's not too nosy)

I'm still trying to decide between the S5600, the S5700 or the S6500.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

QVC were offering it as a TSV (Today's Special Value) last Saturday for £199 (payable over two months). It came with a leather case, a 512Mb xD card, 4 NiMh AA batteries and rapid charger. I've seen the camera alone on offer for £150-£200, Fuji are doing a good bundle for £240.

http://www.fujizone.co.uk/product_in...products_id=87


DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

For comparison, here's some test shots with my FujiFilm S9500:
http://warringtonbears.org.uk/S9500/

All of these were taken with it too:
http://warringtonbears.org.uk/steves/index.htm
http://warringtonbears.org.uk/wedding/index.htm
http://warringtonbears.org.uk/lagrave/index.htm

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Im getting on great with the camera DW. Yours looks snazzy, bit complicated for me i think lol. one day.

Took 200 the other day. Went to alderley edge near where i live, suprised as to how nice it is up there, got some good shots. Uploading them now to flickr :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

I think i've settled on getting the Finepix S6500FD, it's selling for £199 at Jessops at the moment.

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Look forward to seeing your latest pictures.

The Fuji is my third digital camera and probably my twelfth camera altogether. I started with a Kodak Instamatic (127 film type) progressed through the Zenit E to an Olympus OM10 then onto the digital cameras.

It pays to carry your camera with you, I spotted this car this morning.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Not a great deal of difference between it and the S5700 by the looks of it, you do get the face recognition facility which could be useful. I must say I'm impressed with Fuji cameras, especially the lenses. I can't see me ever using my bag full of Olympus OM gear again, this camera does it all.

DW

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

My weapon of choice: Canon EOS400D & EF75-200 F4 L USM

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

And a wee sample (bit if heat haze when I took it though)

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

If you look closely, you can see the pilot waving :)

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Is that bopdude sitting on the tail? :shocked:

Re: Photography Question - Digi Cam
 

Thats not the pilot its me lol. So you like plane spotting or was that you off on holiday?